Alcohol compositions are desirable hand and skincare products. They are effective against a wide range of microorganisms such as gram positive and gram negative bacteria and fungi. They are also able to kill microorganisms faster than other antimicrobial products. Alcohol antimicrobial products are available as water thin liquids, gels, emulsions, and aerosol foams.
Hand sanitizing substances are intended to reduce the risk of exposure to and the spread of pathogenic microorganisms encountered in day-to-day activities. Although the use of sanitizing alcohol based foams and gels is well known, a need exists for a formulation that will more effectively kill germs and dry quickly, without negatively affecting skin health. However, many such quick drying gels have a composition that leaves an undesirable sticky residue. In addition, if the level of alcohol is increased, such conventional gels often dry the skin. Accordingly, the need persists for a higher percentage of alcohol without generating an undesirable residue or the drying of the skin.
It is well known that skin health can be improved in leave on antibacterial products by the addition of humectants or moisturizers. However, the level of moisturizer needed to improve skin health typically has the drawback of causing excessive product build-up and stickiness which is unpleasant aesthetically to the user, and can also lead to increased difficulty in applying gloves, reducing work efficiency. Both the stickiness and gloving issues may result in reduced product use by healthcare providers because the stickiness tends to make the worker feel their hands are “dirty” and need to be washed and the reduced ability to glove impedes with their work flow.
When the level of skin health components in an alcohol-based sanitizer is not high enough, healthcare workers may experience extreme drying of their hands or in a worse case contact dermatitis, especially in low humidity climates or during the “dry” months of the year. Typical, basic/conventional hand sanitizers do not contain adequate amounts of skin health promoting agents to improve skin health with repeated use.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a liquid alcohol-based skin sanitizing composition that can be in the form of a gel, liquid, emulsion or aerosol foam that provides improved skin feel without sacrificing efficacy and which when used repeatedly will improve skin health.
Other objects of the invention will become clear from the description of the invention which follows.